Here be Dragons

What if one day you saw a dragon flying overhead? Wings spread wide, scales glinting in the sunshine, and flames erupting from his maw – a real, live dragon. Would you say “that is a dragon”?

I doubt it. Your mind would struggle to make sense out of the non-sense being fed to it by your eyes. Because your brain “knows” that dragons only exist in fairy tales and J.R.R. Tolkein stories. If we do not believe it is possible we won’t recognize it when it is right before our eyes.

It is a common barrier to living our dreams – not believing in the “impossible.” Instead we buy into things like “I’m not smart enough” or “I’m not creative” or “I’m too old” and add “so it is impossible for me.”

Ask yourself “what if it were possible? What if my age didn’t matter and my creative abilities were validated?” It’s called “suspending disbelief” – we do it when we read books or see movies about dragons for instance. We don’t believe that dragons fly our friendly skies along with the jets and the geese, but we are willing to believe in dragons in the context of the story.

Now ask yourself, “IF that were possible, what else would be possible?”

This is yourstory. If it has dragons in it then you need to believe in dragons. What else do you need to see in order to create your happy ending? What belief is keeping you from seeing what is right before your eyes? What possibilities might exist that you can’t see because you do not believe they are possible for you? Remember, if you don’t believe in dragons you will never see a dragon.

Know what possibilities or opportunities you’d like to see. Use techniques like vision boards or written goals to keep them right in front of you all the time. Be willing to say things such as “the opportunity exists for me to use my skills, experience and abilities to the greater good of mankind and make a good living while doing it.” And when the “yeah buts” raise their heads you’ll start to understand why you have never seen opportunities to realize that dream – the “yeah buts” are the belief systems that tell you that you are seeing geese when in fact you’re looking at a dragon.

You can prove yourself right, that is easy to do, just keep ignoring all those opportunities. Or you can admit that dragons do exist in your world. As each “yeah but” comes to the surface keep asking “but what would I do if I were smart enough, or young enough, or…” then go do it. Best-selling author (Endless Referrals and The Go-Giver) Bob Burg calls it “act as if” – behaving as though something were already true. Knowing how you would behave or what action you would take and then “acting as if” it were true will open windows and doors to possibilities you would have never glimpsed before.